Business

TDA looking at another new logo

By Melissa Moss, Published: May 24, 2016

The ink was scarcely dry on its last new logo when the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority ordered up a new design. The new edgier edition received a lukewarm reception fron board members on Tuesday.

The logo was presented by members of the company Story Powered — Bill Borg and Mark Wilson. They began by listing the issues with the current Hendersonville logo —too cluttered, too disconnected and too literal.
“You’re Hendersonville and you make no apologies,” Borg said. “You’re confident in who you are.” The team also pointed out that while the current logo illustrates features of the Western North Carolina mountains, it doesn’t emphasize anything specific about Hendersonville.

The Story Powered team presented different variations of the logo, including presenting it on a billboard, with a black background and offered a version with just an “H” followed by an exclamation point (see photos). Regarding the H and exclamation point, Wilson said, “We thought that was edgy, brave, original and exciting.”

Chairman David Nicholson expressed both concern and support saying, “This is not your Mom and Dad’s Hendersonville. This looks toward a different type of clientele. … Is that where we want to go with the board?”

While the board was reluctant to accept the basic logo, the Story Powered team pointed out that it is not at all set in stone and could be tweaked with different color schemes and backgrounds. On a motion by Nicholson, the board voted to approve the logo in concept.
The board was eager to see how it could be incorporated into an advertising campaign.

“I don’t want us to lose who we are,” Beth Carden, the TDA’s executive director, said. “We don’t want to be Asheville.” The TDA still has a large inventory of promotional material with the current logo and is in favor of a slower move toward a rebranding, she added.